May 12, 2008 - eBay has cut the ribbon on a massive rooftop solar array at its headquarters in San Jose, Calif.

The 650-kilowatt system is expected to generate 18% of the power needs for the San Jose campus. With 3,248 solar panels covering 60,000 square feet, it is the largest commercial solar installation in city.

Employees at the San Jose complex benefit from a range of climate-conscious perks. eBay provides shuttle service to and from San Francisco to cut down on employee commutes. SolarCity, which provided the solar panels for the San Jose array, has offered facility employees a discount to install solar panels in their own homes (more than 500 workers so far have attended workshops about residential solar installations, eBay says). In addition, eBay offers employees the opportunity to offset their climate footprint by purchasing carbon credits.

eBay has also earned LEED Gold certification for a new office building on its San Jose campus. Green features include Greenguard-certified office furniture, low-flow showerheads and faucets, and a workstation lighting system that automatically dims based on the amount of sunlight entering the building. More than 75% of the waste from the construction site was recycled, reused, or otherwise diverted from landfill, according to eBay.